Harry Potter Movie Joins the Billionaire Club

Over $132 million were sold in ticket sales before "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" was even released. Many predicted that this much anticipated movie would make over $150 million dollars in ticket sales overall. However, domestically, the film had already reached $92.1 million on opening day, breaking the previous record of $72 million set by "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." It also surpassed the previous values for best domestic gross by $30 million set by "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse." By the end of the opening weekend "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" had reached $168 million in the US! The films unprecedented numbers broke records in the US, Canada, and the UK.

Of course, no one is that surprised at the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2"'s magical success. "It's the biggest movie phenomenon on the planet. I remember when 'ET' was the highest earning movie all-time -- $870 million. With "Harry Potter," you're talking "$6 billion," said actor Richard Griffiths who plays Harry's uncle Vernon. The franchise has been deemed Hollywood's highest earning franchise in history.

Two weeks after its release, the film continues to shatter records. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" finally made it pass the $1 billion mark in global box office sales this weekend. The first film in the franchise: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," came the closest to passing this mark with $974.8 million in 2002.

The latest film, directed by David Yates, is expected to be nominated in several technical Academy Award categories. However, many doubt that "Deathly Hallows, Part 2" will be able to achieve nominations in any other sections. "Historically, these kinds of kids' or genre films have never been big Oscar winners. Voters have never felt they were deserving of an Academy Award," said Richard Course, a Canada AM movie critic."It's not to say that 'Deathly Hallows: Part 2" isn't worthy of an Oscar nomination. But I don't think we'll see any acting or directing nods this year for the Potter gang."

Fans will remain hopeful for Academy recognition. But for now, the cast and crew are elated at this world-wide success. "Deathly Hallows, Part 2" joins "Titanic," "Avatar," and "Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides" in the billionaire club. Later this month, "Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon" is expected to join the ranks as well.